The demonstration began in front of Southern Transport Limited at 9:00 a.m. The group marched with placards over Havana Bridge, then around the roundabout, and then back to the front of the terminal.
The former members of Southern Transport and National Transport marched in orange T-shirts, which carried their theme ?Unity for safety.? They also held banners in front of them, carrying the same theme.
David Haylock was fired on December 1 after he and the other 11 men stood down on Thursday, November 30, because of serious problems they said they were having with the buses, including faulty brakes. The air pipes and radiator pumps need changing, and the windshields are cracked, said Kyrle Borland.
He explained that for the past two months they have been writing to request the parts, but to no avail. He said that they had to go to the junkyard, where old buses were parked, to get the parts from them, which was the only reason that the buses were moving.
The other drivers fired are Stanley Ramclam, David Borland, Gregorio Bermudez, Deon Gomez, Nesto Teul, George Haylock and Alofio Castillo. The mechanics are Augustine Orallano, Moris Rivera and Howard Williams. The men were sent letters, dated December 1, which stated:
?Wednesday, November 30, 2005, disruption of regular bus service to the Belizean commuters from Dangriga traveling to Placencia, Punta Gorda, Belmopan, coastal villages and Belize City and beyond has caused hardships for commuters and loss of much needed revenue to the company ?your conduct ? and method used to fuel the problem certainly will not be condoned??
Borland said that they decided to hire Antoinette Moore, who wrote to Robert Garcia, general manager of Novelo?s Bus Line, on December 2. The letter stated that the firing was retaliatory and that the drivers had a responsibility to their passengers.
Their drivers? handbook states: ?Drivers responsibility: the driver is not to proceed on any schedule or charter until he/she is satisfied that the vehicle is safe to do so. It is illegal to drive a defective vehicle, especially when that defect relates to the safety features of the vehicle.?
Moore requested all benefits for each employee fired. The men fired had from 11 years to 3 months on the job. Most of them had gone over to Novelo?s after it had purchased Z-Line.
Borland told the newspaper that they have been in dialogue with the National Transport, which had offered them jobs. The agreement would be that the drivers would take care of their own buses and hire a conductor.
The demonstrators also had a petition that carried 900 signatures, and they say that they intend to get at least 4,000 signatures. This Tuesday, December 13, they intend to take their picketing to Belmopan and get more signatures there.
Borland?s advice to the receivership was to allow competition ? allow the commuters to choose what they want to ride.